Our invention relates to lighting devices, to electric lamps, and in particular to a lamp assembly of novel configuration capable of throwing beams of light in either one or two different directions as required. The dual purpose lamp assembly in accordance with our invention finds a typical application as an integral combination of a fog lamp and a cornering lamp which have heretofore been employed separately on a motor vehicle, although we do not wish our invention to be unnecessarily limited to this particular application.
Motor vehicles today are equipped with a variety of lamps for a variety of purposes. Among them are the fog lamp and the cornering lamp. As the name implies, the fog lamp provides road illumination, possibly in conjunction with the lower beam headlamps, forwardly of the vehicle under conditions of rain, snow, dust, or fog. The cornering lamp, on the other hand, is used in combination with the turn signal system to supplement the headlamps by providing additional illumination in the direction of vehicle turn.
Thus, as the fog lamp and the cornering lamp are intended for the distinctly different purposes, providing illumination in different directions, there have conventionally mounted to each vehicle one pair of fog lamps and one pair of cornering lamps. The manufacturing costs of motor vehicles will become appreciably less if the number of lamps thereon is reduced without loss or diminution of their intended functions. Moreover, vehicles decorated with so many lamps are, in some instances, objectionable from an aesthetic point of view.